Faith vs Doubts

Feb 23

It’s truly good to be back at the Community Center, and we’ve been blessed over the past two weeks in that. We’re still working through a few things, but overall, we’ve seen good fruit from our short time back.

This morning, I woke up with a sense that people needed to be ministered to. Of course, that’s always our aim in service, but there was something different about this feeling as I tried to wake up and get moving.

I felt at ease with the sermon today. It’s interesting how some weeks everything flows naturally, while other weeks, I struggle to recall my notes and bring the message to where it needs to go. What I did struggle with this morning, however, was remembering how the tech was set up. We’re blessed with a great team that handles that, but I wanted to get a jump on things and test everything before everyone arrived. That ended up taking longer than expected, but as our wonderful setup crew trickled in early, we got things rolling.

Despite a few challenges, we got everything in place, gathered for prayer, worshiped together, and then made our way to coffee, our volunteer positions, and final preparations as we waited for others to arrive. This week, we worshiped straight through at the beginning, and it felt good. We may stick with that format for a while.

Then came the tech issues—again. Out of nowhere, some horrendous sounds blasted through the speaker system. Since the sermon had just started, I decided to turn off the mic and press on without it. The downside? No sermon recording this week. Hopefully, we’ll get that sorted out by next Sunday.

That said, I haven’t felt more at ease during a sermon in a long time. Not having to hold a mic or worry about advancing slides—huge thanks to Jeremiah for handling that—allowed me to connect more deeply with people as I spoke. I believe it made a difference, and I could sense God working in all of our hearts as we wrestled with the question: Is it a lack of faith or the presence of doubt that keeps me from pursuing the promises God has for my life? (You can access the sermon notes here.)

Over in the children’s classroom, Ana prepared a lesson based on Mary anointing the feet of Jesus. It was quite a memorable time for all the children as the learned the importance of honor, but also the fun crafts involved with the lessons. They showed off their work to all the parents and adults with smiles beaming across their faces.

We wrapped up much earlier than usual, and that’s something I want to aim for going forward. Sermons and worship are central, but true community—the kind where people linger, talk, and build relationships—is just as vital. Most people stayed for nearly an hour after service, conversing and helping pick things up.

What could have felt like a setback in momentum for where I hope the church will grow actually turned into a time of deep and meaningful connection with God and with one another. And we need that.

Thank you, God, for having Your way today!